It has been 8 years since I was diagnosed with Heart Disease (Coronary Artery Disease). My blood tests were mostly normal and there were no real red flags. And yet, there I was: at the 98th percentile of calcification of my arteries for my age.
Once I was over the initial shock, I realized I was actually incredibly lucky. Cardiovascular disease accounts for more deaths (32%) than the next 4 biggest causes of death combined (all the cancers, respiratory disease, diabetes and dementia). According to Stanford Health, among South Asians, heart attacks are happening earlier (25% of heart attacks occur under age 40, and 50% occur under age 50) and with higher mortality rates (there is a 40% higher chance of mortality from heart attacks among South Asians than the average population).
It led to me making a lot of changes to my lifestyle (food, exercise, sleep) in ways that did not require me to give up eating and doing all the things I love. To ensure my changes were medically, scientifically and nutritionally sound, I worked very closely with a number of amazing clinicians, dietitians and exercise trainers.
I am sharing a few of the improvements I have seen in my health parameters through this journey to demonstrate how effective these changes have been while being quite simple to implement. Moving forward, I will share my learnings and observations on these interventions through my GeneClinicX Instagram account and on my LinkedIn account, that I hope can help those of you that are looking for sustainable and fun ways to stay or become healthy. Your feedback and questions are very welcome!
82 comments
Poornima Kunani: Thank you for sharing this. Kudos on your journey to optimal health! For women, estrogen is somewhat protective but goes away from peri-menopause onwards. So very important for women to be screened, and strength/flexibility trained. I’m glad you mentioned sleep. Will add stress management as well.
Nickhil Jakatdar: Poornima couldn’t agree more. I should have mentioned stress management as well since it is key. Over the coming weeks I’ll share the specifics of what has worked and not worked for me in each of those buckets.
Deepa Dixit Padhye: Kudos for achieving those wonderful results. Zest for life my merely looking after those important factors sleep, eat and exercise ( work too). Healthy lifestyle choices. Nickhil Jakatdar, woot,woot.
Nickhil Jakatdar: Deepa 😀. Thanks
Rahul Agarwal: Those numbers look fantastic Nickhil! Congratulations!
Nickhil Jakatdar: Thanks a lot. As a doctor you are a very good judge of them so it’s especially heartening to hear this from you.
Rahul Mahajan: The reversal is truly amazing and inspiring. What’s the secret to being at it continually? Most of us would have given up in sometime.
Nickhil Jakatdar: Really. It doesn’t require as much discipline and perseverance if we can make it fun rather than involving a lot of sacrifices. That is the real trick. I will be sharing more on how to go about doing exactly that.
Rahul Shukla: Wow Nickhil, this is just awesome. Hats off to your dedication and thanks for Sharing. Take care, buddy.
Nickhil Jakatdar: Thanks. Look forward to our chat this weekend.